Games and Cultural

How have games affected our culture?
This is a bit of an abstract question as games are simply our way of entertainment which, although each culture will create differently, all have a similar affect. The idea of games had been around for a very long time, so pin pointing a cultural shift due to games is a bit difficult, for this reason I will stick to video games.

Video games have affected our culture is many ways, but then so has all forms of media.
Games are more the underdog of the media I feel- they're not as popular as music or television and often get placed with a geek-culture stereotype or equally are just seen as pointless. To say games are pointless is just as closed minded as suggesting only what you consider a ''geek'' plays these games. I could go on about the retardedness of stereotyping, but that's not what I'm discussing right now. Video Games are in no way pointless, just as playing hide & seek or foot ball has its value to the development of children and general culture alike. Yes there are those who convert their lives into the fantasy of video games, but this is a mentality that would latch onto another form of escape had video games not been invented.

The culture video games have created is widely varied, but I'd say the key factor in video game culture is that it has no particular country. Although the US and Japan have a large part to play in the video game culture we live in today, it has crossed into video game developers from all over the world!
It is so expansive, especially since online play, as it gives the world a place to interact and enjoy without the need for language or cultural difference. It is itself a culture outside regular cultures, and as the world grows closer to unity, it is becoming increasingly popular and accepted.

Gaming culture has a particular theme that all who are part of can understand- just as communities have a inside jokes and themes, as to does the video game community. All recognise the rivalry of Sega & Nintendo and have watched them put down their power ups and join together, and most will understand terms such as Level Up or Game Over. The realm of video games is itself a world of its own, and no matter what game you play, it will be limited to the ways of this world, there for we have adapted to it as it has evolved and slowly integrated itself into modern culture.

It is also now an accepted form of art, so as paintings such has the Mona Lisa has played its part in culture, so to has Asteroids or Pac-Man.

Video games have broken out of their confined consoles and into various aspects of our world, such as music, movies and every other possible form of entertainment you can think of.



What is contemporary gaming?



Bibliography:
Games and Culture-
http://gac.sagepub.com/
http://gac.sagepub.com/content/5/4/403.abstract
http://catalog.flatworldknowledge.com/bookhub/reader/3833?e=lulemedia_1.0-ch10_s03
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110313160147AAFlB7f
http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2011/sep/25/slam-leith-video-games
http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/impact/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4dPSOncwVQ
Contemporary Games-